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Pehaka Bandsaw

09-16-2008, 02:57 AM

Hello Everyone.wanted to know if anyone might know where I can get some info on an older Pehaka bandsaw I just picked up for a song and dance....I googled pehaka and all I could get was people selling them......Any bandsaw forums maybe? Thanx in advance JIM

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I Googled "Pehaka saw" and did learn they are (were?) made in Germany. The ones I found are large industrial saws. I'm betting they are very good quality but support and parts may be tough to get in the USA.

Do you know what voltage your's is uhohjim?

Jim

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I Googled "Pehaka saw" and did learn they are (were?) made in Germany. The ones I found are large industrial saws. I'm betting they are very good quality but support and parts may be tough to get in the USA.

Do you know what voltage your's is uhohjim?

Jim , I knew they were made in Germany...after sitting for many years everything still for the most part moves freely and is in good shape...I know its a three phase saw and was considering a rotary phase convertor.....or maybe a single phase motor swap..the saw is missing some small things like the blade guide/stablilzer coming from the upper adjustable blade fence?guide?....Not sure exactly what it would be called..but normally there would be two roller bearings there to stabilize blade where it feeds from the top of the saw. The saw has a approx. 16 inch throat and full speed adjustment so I'mthinking I'll have to put a little time into it because it sure seems heavy duty I'll post some pics of it so maybe someone might have some ideas for parts Thanx Jim

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I'm assuming that you're bandsaw is an upright saw with a 16" throat and has two 16" wheels.

I recently rebuilt an old Laidlaw bandsaw (good luck with that one on Google ). This one has a special place in my heart because it was one of my first larger pieces of machinery that I acquired, but it was the last one I put into action.

I think I paid $75 for this over 15 years ago. I had more time and energy back then, and stripped it bare and meticulously repainted it... even had some gears machined for the gear box. Then it sat... and sat.. and sat...
I always knew it would be the diamond in the rough, so I finally made an effort to either get 'er done, or part with it. Truth be told, I coaxed my father (who is now semi-retired) to get on the case, and was kind enough to rebuild the gear box for me in his spare time. Thanks, Dad!
Miraculously, we still had all of the parts in a box, as I had it completely apart. So, now for an original $75 investment and well, a bit of time , I now have a killer 30" bandsaw. New bearings throughout, tuned up gearbox, new tires, and a 15 year old paint job.

The motor is an old hefty General electric 3 Phase. It was wired for 440V, so I took it to an old school motor guy and had him wire it for 220V so I could run it off one of my rotary phase converters.

To answer your question about converters, I ran all my 220V three phase machines off a 3HP rotary converter until I fired up my 30" direct drive Oliver bandsaw... it just wouldn't fire that huge 2HP motor... so I had to step up to a 10HP converter for that saw. The Laidlaw may be a different story, since it has a gear box driven by a flat belt from the motor, but I haven't yet tried it on the 3HP converter. I don't know if you will have any luck at all with a static converter. It really depends on how the drive is on the saw and how much grunt you're looking at to get her moving.

At any rate, I robbed a 3PH switch from another (project) machine and when the day came we finally fired this up, I gotta say I was stOked.... this saw really sings.

It even came with an old blade welder, which I used to make the maiden blade with. Another forum member, Pumpkinhead, was kind enough to give me some great advice on how to properly use a bandsaw blade welder. Thanks, Pumpy! Talk about a welding process that requires some skill!

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I took special interest in the guide assembly on this saw, as it was much different (and better IMO) than any of my other bandsaws.

There are some bandsaw bearing guide assemblies (Carter is one that comes to mind) that you can purchase and probably adapt to your saw. This Laidlaw had its assemblies all hand-made.

These pics show how it all works around a simple brass block and some eccentrics. Very cool. Very simple. The whole design of this saw is cool and straightforward. It is very user friendly and just makes sense.

If you decide to go this route for the guides, feel free to send me a PM and I'll get some more pics.

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AAAAAAAALLLrighty I finally got some more pics posted......any ideas on motor power requirements? I'm not exactly sure what the tag on the motor means as far as single or three phaseand so forth... Any help would be appreciated Thanx Jim

Comment

AAAAAAAALLLrighty I finally got some more pics posted......any ideas on motor power requirements? I'm not exactly sure what the tag on the motor means as far as single or three phaseand so forth... Any help would be appreciated Thanx Jim